Partial Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
– Apparently Santino Marella’s neck is so bad that he will have to undergo fusion surgery at some point. Santino has been promoting his own wrestling shows at his BattleArts school in Canada. Santino wants the shows to be like the BattleArts promotion in Japan, which is shoot style but worked, with a more realistic in-ring style and more focus on submissions. Former WWE star and current New Japan star Harry “DH” Smith recently appeared on Santino’s shows.
– We noted before that Hulk Hogan being added to WWE’s tour of Japan did help with ticket sales and Hogan’s return to the country was seen as a big deal. When Hogan arrived at the Narita airport, there were more than 100 reporters and photographers waiting. Hogan appeared on two network talk shows and had eight print interviews. Hogan himself coming in was bigger in the media than the WWE tour as a whole. On the second night of the tour in Tokyo, Japanese legend Yoshihiro Takayama was sitting at ringside wearing a Hogan t-shirt.
– While doing media for Hercules this week, The Rock made a stop in San Francisco to film a scene for San Andreas. The local NBC affiliate reports that neighbors and businesses in the neighborhood complained about streets being closed for filming but permits were still issued.
– For the WWE Network, WWE recently purchased positioning on a c-band satellite transponder, which is what cable networks use to send their signals. The WWE Network is now on the same transponder as the Bloomberg and Reelz networks. Networks usually share transponders to share costs and this shows that WWE is paying a significant amount of money to transport a signal that would normally be used by cable & satellite companies to bring in a station. This could lead to a lot of speculation about what WWE has planned for the Network, but WWE sources told The Wrestling Observer it’s nothing of significance.
– After moving CM Punk off the main roster to their Alumni roster on Tuesday, WWE has now removed Punk’s merchandise listing off their shop website. Some Punk items can be found through different areas of the site but even the search function shows no Punk results.
– WWE issued an alert to certain international fans this week to offer them a test run of the WWE Network that lasts until August 4th. The test program is limited to 2,000 users and includes free access to the entire Network. The test program allows users to use the Network on their computer or through the Apple/Android app. This is part of WWE preparing for an international launch of the Network next year.
– Ticket sales for WWE’s RAW in Las Vegas on August 18th are a little weak and the same goes for the SmackDown tapings in Ontario, California on August 26th. Ticket sales for the August 25th RAW in Anaheim are said to be going well.
– As noted, WWE will be running a rare Monday night live event on December 29th in Richmond, Virginia while the final RAW of the year is happening in Washington, DC. They are doing this because it’s the week after Christmas and the best weekend of the year to draw, especially when it comes to kids.
– WWE NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte, Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze hosted a “Be a Star” anti-bullying rally in Orlando on Wednesday morning. NXT Champion Adrian Neville was also there.
– WWE will tape another four episodes of NXT TV tonight from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. We will have full spoiler results tonight.
